Estate Grown Santa Ynez Valley Syrah 2009
Stolpman
Syrah
14.5% alcohol.
Pop and Pour: Very dark wine, with purple edges but intensely dark in the center. The nose has bright floral and berry pop. Smoke. Boysenberry jam, dark berries. While intense NOT fake or sugary. Really, really nice nose. Accents of blueberry cap off a great experience. Syrah syrup shows a bit with some slight heat. On the palate, I can just tell I am going to LOVE this wine. OMG, the fruit is SO true to itself on the front palate. The fruit just feel fresh, vibrant, and just PICKED. Again, not FAKE. Mid palate fruit rolls to a finish of ABSURD concentration. Finish has blue fruit, texture and flavor has some of the blueberry skin mixed in. I am blown away by this wine. While being new world in style, it is not over blown or over done. So much flavor. Dark berry and blue fruit mixed. Almost like biting the fruit right off the vine. Truth, Intensity, Clean, Vibrant, Sharp, Well Made, and just a Fantastic Wine. Finish is 30-45 second plus. WOW.
Fast Forward: 2 Hours 30 Minutes. What a lovely mix of darker berries with such an incredible balance of blueberries. The dark berries provide the lively fruit, and the blue fruit provide the leanness and acidity. Highly addictive. Full flavor, yet TRUE. Power not sugary. Tannins are lively and keep fruit in check. There is some sense of heat, but the wine is so good, who cares. I love this wine. In fact, for the money this may be the best syrah I have had in a VERY long time. I am a fan. 24 Hours. Fruit has calmed a bit, but still has quite a bit of substance. Long lingering finish. While the front may be a touch more calm, the mid palate and the back palate are still just ROCKING. Less heat today. Tongue coating flavor. There is a slight tartness on the front palate that suggests the fruit is starting to fade, but the last half to the finish suggest otherwise. An amazing wine, even 24 hours later.
Overall: I knew coming into the final write up of this wine how much I liked/loved this wine. As I sat down, I began thinking about how much I knew I was going to talk about how much I liked/loved this wine and sway back and forth between Above Average and Exceptional. I then thought that even mentioning this wine as a candidate for EXCEPTIONAL was compliment enough, and then place it as an ABOVE AVERAGE. However, I did not edit anything in my write up and my words to GUSH about this wine. I found the fruit in this wine to be HONEST, TRUE, and LIVELY. I too must remain true and honest to myself. This is a DAM good wine. I would be lying to myself and my readers if I arbitrarily just called this wine ABOVE AVERAGE, to be a "conservative" critic. The truth is, this wine was REALLY good in my opinion. Its price and availability would only add to the value this wine brings. If you are a syrah fan, you should find this wine and buy a lot of it. It is that good. If you do not like syrah and think of all syrah as Big Aussie Shiraz, find this wine. The control and honestly of the fruit in this wine is amazing. I believe just about anyone can like or love this wine. It is that good, in my opinion. There is moderate ageing potential here with the peak somewhere around 5-7 years, maybe max out at 10. To be an honest critic, I must be honest to myself and my palate, EXCEPTIONAL
11/2/11